Ice-pan for refrigerators.



H. C. FRATT.

ICE PAN FOR REFRIGERATORS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-22. 1916.

1,286,575. I Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

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H. C. FRATT.

ICE PAN FOB REFRIGERATORS.

APPLICATION mm AUG.22. I9l6.

1,286,575. Patented Dec. 3; 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ITE srarns PATENT or uon Believe, PRATT, or NonRIsTowN, PENNSYLVANIA.

ICE-PAN FOR REFRIGERATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

Application filed August 22, 1916. Serial No. 11633 1.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY C. FnAriya citizen of the United States, residing at Norristown, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ice-Pans for Refrigerators, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to refrigerators and has particular application to a pan for supporting the ice within the ice compartment of a refrigerator.

The chief characteristic of this invention is to providea device of this character which will support the ice within the refrigerator 111 811011 3, manner as to permit the free circulation of air about the ice whereby the maximu n' amount of cooling effect will be ob tained.

" Another characteristic of this invention to provide a device of this character having an auxiliary drain pan which is arranged in baffled relation to the ice pan whereby the water from the ice can be subjected to a prolonged y I the ice chamber to evaporate the water from the ice. l Another object of this invention is to provide novel means for supporting the drain pan whereby the same may be readily re} moved for cleaning purposes,

Another objectof this invention is to pro vide a device ofthis character which contains the desirable features of simplicity, durability and eflicien cy and furthermore, a device which may be readily attached to a refrigerator of any common construction.

Other objects ofthe invention will appear as the specification is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which 2% Figure'l is a top plan view of a deyice constructed in accordance with my invention, the refrigerator being shown partly in section.

F ig.2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the device, the refrigerator being shown in section.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the ice pan.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the same."

exposure to permit the air within Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the auxiliary drain pan. i i Fig. 6 is a'transversesection of the ice chamber of-the refrigerator showing a. portion of the-'means for supporting the pans within the'ice chamber.

eferring to the drawings in detail, my invention is shown in this instance applied to an ice chamber-of a'refrigerator, the ice chamber being gegerally indicated as at A and preferably 0 and comprising side walls 1, and end walls 2.' 'Secured'to the oonfronting faces of the end walls 2 by:means of the screws 3, at a point adjacent the :lower, edge of the chamber, is a plate Lwhich of the. end'lw'allsl'and :has tudinal edges bent inwardly atright angles to provide the flanges 5, the opposite ends of the fl'angesfbeingupturned asat 6. The flanges upon one of'the 'plates 4 and preferably the rear plate is disposed in a plane below the flange formed on the forward plate, the purpose of which'will be herein after described.

Removably mounted between the flanges 5 is the'drain pan 7 which is formed from a single piece of metal which is preferably of rectangular formation; i The pan 7'- is bent- 12. The rods 'l2' are of such a length as'to' project beyond the opposite ends of the channels and serve as supporting 'means for the pan, the ends of the rods lying upon the fl'ange's'5 when the panis' in applied position within'the ice chamber.

It will be noted that owing to the fact that the flanges -'5 are disposed indifferent horizontal planes," when the pan '7 is in applied position, thejsame will be disposed upon an incline, from its forward end to its rear end, thus causing the liquid whichis deposited upon the pan 'to'be precipitated toward and through the'drain opening 9.

Secured to the confronting faces of the end walls 2 at points above the plates 4 are the transversely extending 'bars 13, the bars rectangular formation tudinal edges of the bars 13 are provided with recesses 15 adjacent the opposite ends thereof, the recesses upon the rear bar being in horizontal alinement with the recesses H upon the remaining bar.

Mounted upon the bars 15 and 'coiinecting*' the same is my improvedform of an ice pan 16 which comprises a sheet of metal bent upwardly upon its marginal edges 'to :provide the side walls 17 and the end walls 18, the walls being rigidly connected together by solder or the like. Thev ice pan is bent longitudinally at its medial portion 'in the form of a syncline and is provided adjacent one end with a drain opening '19, the latter having secured'to its wall, the depending pipe 20. Thebot'tom 'of 'the pan is deeper at one end than at the other, the bottom being inclined toward the 'drain opening 19. The side walls 17 have their longitudinal free edges bent outwardly and downwardly to providechannels 21in which are mountedthe upperr-iedge of the longitudinally extending'strips22.-' The strips-22 are secured to the side walls 17'by means of the rivets 23, the strips being "of such a length as to project beyond'the oppositeends of the ice pan and terminating in rabbeted portions to provide the projections 24. lVhen the ice -pan 16 is in applied position within the ice chamber, these :projections 24 are adapted'to lie within the recesses 15, the bar 13 being so disposed as to normally hold the ice pan in-spaced relation to the drain pan 7.- It will be noted that the ice' pan is so disposed within the ice chamber as to have the drain opening 19 disposed at the forward'end of the casing, while the opening 9 formed in the drain pan 7 is disposed at the rear end of the chamber as hasbeen described.

To support the ice'upon the pan and at the same time to permit the free circulation of air about'the ice,-a'n *ice tray 25 is mounted upon the ice pan 16 'and between the side and end walls'thereof. The ice tray 25 is-in this instance formed of horizontally extending bars 26 which 'are connected by the parallel spaced longitudinally extending bars 27. I i

In operation, thepans7 and '16 are placed within the ice chamber'as'has'been described, the ice being placed uponthe tray 25.- As the ice melts, 'the water will fall upon the pan 16 and owing to :its ,synclined and inclined formation,"the water will be precipitated toward the drain opening -19 and through the pipe 20 and to the drain an 7.,

and-

The water then traverses the pan through the opening 9-and pipe 10. A-suit -deli from the foregoin'g'that owing to the varragigement of the pan, the water will be subjected" to a prolonged exposure thereby perniitting the air within the chamber to evaporate the water, thus lowering thetemnperat ure qf-blle'itll and assisting the ice in cooling the contents of the refrigerator. It will be noted that thepans =7 and 16 are of a lcssgwidtltthan that of the chamber thereby pefrm'itting the air to freely circulate about the pan and ice. In the event that it is desired to clean the pans, they may be readily removed and easily replaced as will be understood.

Supporting means for the pan including the plates at and the bars 13 are secured to the-end walls ofthe chamber by means of the screws as has been described. Thus it will be manifest that the supporting-means maybe readily applied to the icev chamber and it-refrigerator for-supporting -the pans in their proper cooperative positions.-.

.It is thought from the foregoing taken in connection with the accompztnyihgdra'win'gs, that the'constructionand operation of my device will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without further description, and that minor changes in size, shape, proportion and minor details of construction maybe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the'appended claim.

hat I claim is:

In a refrigerator, a pa'ir of-cleats disposed upon the inner faces of the end walls ofthe ice chamber at the lower edges thereof, said cleats being provided with inturned flanges and one cleat extending below the lower-edgeof the associated end wall, a pandisposed' below said ice chamber and having its sides provided with rods projectingbeyond the. ends thereof and engaging upon the inturned flanges of said cleats whereby-said pan will be supported with one end lower than the other, a second-pair-of cleats se-. cured upon the innersides of said end walls above and in spaced relation to said first named cleats'andiprov-ided with notches, and an ice supporting pan disposed above said first named pan and having its .ends provided with projections-seating within said notches, the bottom of. said second named pan being inclinede and having its lowest; point disposed adjacent the highest point, of the bottom of said first named pan, and the-lowermost pointofieach pan being provided with an outletopening.; e a

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HARRY c. mm;

Copies of this patent may be obtained for flve cents eaeh by addressing the Commissioner otPat enta.

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